I feel like a housewife in a house with no one in it, but needs to be cleaned every day. Every time the sun touches something, it shows the layer of dust that has accumulated since the previous day. I am torn between amazement, frustration, and intrigue as I try to figure out a way to cut down the volume that settles. It gets into everything.
There have been a few items on my internal list, which I never seem to write down, that my little team decided would be good ideas. I got the chalk board paint out and put a nice stripe above all the doors of the homes that I can now go back after it cures, and write the names of the homes. We were thinking besides the numbers, this would be helpful for teams that come to know which house is which. I took the opportunity to create a new black board inside the Store House as well. I made one a few weeks ago when Bruce, Julie, and Susan were here, but I ran out of room fast... so now I have a newer; bigger one. I had Aceng Sharon help me paint just a little bit.
The pump is always on my mind. Just before Bruce and Julie left, they stopped by the store in Kampala that sells replacement filters and sent them up on the bus. Mum Tabitha went to the bus station today and picked them up. So very soon, the children and mums will have delicious and clean drinking water. I will wait until a few days before I leave so that I can shock the system one more time before I install them. I don't see a reason to install them now since we are using most of the water for construction. It is still suitable for drinking, but the city tap simply does not have the flow to keep up with the rate at which our mortar and concrete consumes it. I decided to also adjust the spigot on the water tower to be slightly more tamper-proof. We will see how long it lasts.
I could have sworn that i was bitten my some insect that carries a sleeping sickness. Just after lunch I started to doze... big time. I was trying my hardest to keep working; painting, collecting garbage, whatever, but i could not resist. A few of the kids that were with me finally told me that I needed to lay down and take a nap. I went back into my room, laid down, and woke up probably 10 minutes later to sweat dripping down my neck. I then came in the main room and laid down on the slightly cooler, much harder concrete floor and closed my eyes with no success. There were children outside that started swinging wire at the metal posts of the house, and on the concrete floor.
A few kids showed me some more wounds today. It is funny to me how when one comes, there are 5 or 6 that start to crowd; all with wounds. It almost seems like they are back behind some house cutting themselves, or deliberately falling just so they can have a trip to the “Wound cleaning guy”. I have to remember, that there are many of them, and they play rough in a world that is not as child-safe as the USA.
Today is the end of our work week. There were a few different circumstances that muddied the water this time when we went to pay them. The problem was that there was a miscommunication between Henry and I. I thought he had let some workers go because they were performing poorly, or because they came too late.. turns out they just wanted to be paid in advance. so what I counted as a day’s wage was not that at all. Also, Henry had labeled some of the workers as helpers, and not masons, which always makes for a nice surprise. I have become more involved in paying the workers than I was before. I actually calculate their wages now, which used to be done by the foreman only. We are much more of a team. Once we settled all the issues, I sat in the House making corrections to my books for the next 15 minutes then it was off to dinner at Mum Lydia’s house next door. We payed over 1 million shillings in wages this week, which is a little high.
The workers built up the wall that is down in the corner of the pump house. This is the corner of the property that is opposite the octagonal building on the map. They also worked on the footings for the green wall that comes in to the front porch of Home 9.
I am going to bed early.
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